1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a distillation-type drinking fountain and an energy-saving heating unit thereof and, more particularly, to a distillation-type drinking fountain with reduced energy consumption and an energy-saving heating unit thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drinking fountains are generally categorized into distillation-type and boiling-type drinking fountains. The term “distillation” comprises two steps. First, a liquid containing different substances is heated until a predetermined temperature is reached. This allows substances with boiling points lower than the predetermined temperature to be steamed out and substances with boiling points higher than the predetermined temperature to remain where they are. Second, the obtained steam is collected in a container. Based on this, substances with different boiling points can be separated for purification purpose of the liquid.
A conventional distillation-type drinking fountain includes a heating container, a condenser tube and a water-collecting container. The heating container has a sleeve cavity and a heating unit. The sleeve cavity has a receiving room for receiving a liquid to be distilled. The heating unit is disposed in the receiving room and used to heat the liquid contained in the receiving room. The condenser tube has one end communicating with the receiving room via a first pipe, as well as another end communicating with a storage room of the water-collecting container via a second pipe.
When distilling the liquid in the distillation-type drinking fountain, the heating unit heats the liquid in the receiving room until a boiling temperature is reached. The boiling temperature, as a preferred case, is slightly higher than 100° C. in order to vaporize the moisture of the liquid into steam. Then, the obtained steam enters the condenser tube via the first pipe. Since the condenser tube has a lower temperature than the steam, the steam will become water molecules while contacting the condenser tube. The obtained water molecules will flow into the storage room of the water-collecting container via the second pipe. Thus, distilled water is obtained for drinking purposes. The distilled water generally stays in a room temperature that is too cool for drinking purposes. When it is desired to heat the distilled water for drinking purposes, a heating device may be used to heat the distilled water until a proper temperature suitable for drinking purposes is attained.
However, the conventional distillation-type drinking fountain only relies on the heating device for heating the distilled water, leading to great energy consumption. This is because the distilled water generally remains in the room temperature way lower than the proper temperature suitable for drinking purposes. As a result, more energy is required for the heating device to heat the distilled water.
Therefore, it is desired to improve the conventional distillation-type drinking fountain.